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Hack Horizon Takes to the Skies

Major industry players, including Heathrow, British Airways, TfL and Travelport, come together to deliver the most innovative inflight travel hackathon to date

Hack Horizon, the first TravelTech hackathon onboard a British Airways commercial flight between Hong Kong and London Heathrow, culminated last night with a pitch event at London’s iconic Transport Museum. The evening showcased the exceptional travel-focused technology that was developed during the three-day hack to a distinguished audience of travel industry experts, business leaders, and entrepreneurs. At the end of the evening Destination was crowned the winner - an In Flight Entertainment to mobile retail solution that allows passengers to book activities for their destination whilst on a flight.

With a backdrop of innovation in travel, the aim of Hack Horizon was to enable the brightest entrepreneurial minds to connect with travel industry leaders to develop new products and services that could go on to improve the end to end customer experience in travel. Global leaders in the industry including British Airways, Heathrow, London & Partners and the TravelTech Lab, Hong Kong International Airport, Travelport, Skyscanner, MTR, TfL and SITA came together to support the project because of its ability to push boundaries in travel technology and challenge the status quo.

Hack Horizon is the brainchild of Kostadin Kolev, Kristy Hart, Johannes Jaeger and Sandra Sobanska - four tech savvy, globe-trotting millennials based in both London and Hong Kong. They first came together through their love of visiting the world and soon discovered they shared the belief that innovative technology could be better applied to streamline the traveller experience.

Thirty-two developers, designers and entrepreneurs from markets including the UK, Europe, US, South America and Asia, were selected from almost 700 global applications for the three-day hackathon. Depending on their skill set, the participants were placed in teams of 3 or 4 and then asked to develop an innovative travel technology product at airports, hotels and onboard a 12-hour British Airways flight between Hong Kong International Airport and London Heathrow. Unlike many other hackathons, Hack Horizon immersed its participants in the travel experience and gave them direct access to members of the travelling public so they could receive live feedback and focus on solving very real pain points in travel. They also worked in tandem with some of the best industry technologies and APIs and gained support from mentors and experts.

Once in London, participants were immersed in the local TravelTech scene and set up at the TravelTech Lab - London’s first TravelTech incubator, co-created by London & Partners and the Trampery - to finish building their prototypes and practice their pitches before heading to the London Transport Museum.

In just 72 hours, the eight teams built a diverse range of prototypes designed to solve the various pain points throughout the travel experience. Ideas included an end-to-end security luggage transfer service powered by blockchain, a smartwatch that leverages deep learning to personalise the passenger experience at airports, a digital service for parents to arrange for their children to travel internationally on their own and a chatbot so groups to collaborate on trips and bookings. But it was Destination, an In Flight Entertainment to mobile retail solution that allows passengers to book activities at their destination whilst on a flight that was crowned the winner by the esteemed panel of travel expert judges. LuxExpress, a global traveller network giving passengers access to best-priced luxury duty free, came in second place.

Kristy Hart, Hack Horizon’s co-founder, added, “The travel industry is extremely competitive and consequently digital innovation is now high on the agenda. We are delighted that some of the biggest names in the industry came on board to actively support travel innovation through Hack Horizon. Hong Kong and London are two rapidly growing travel hubs, however a lot of the big players in travel have focused on increasing efficiencies and improving their bottom line rather than the customer. The incredible roster of partners we have brought together for Hack Horizon shows a readiness and commitment from some of the leading voices in travel to pursue a new direction. TravelTech can really play a central role in improving the end to end customer experience.”

Heathrow’s Retail and Service Proposition Director Chris Annetts added, “I was delighted to be asked to participate in this event. Hong Kong and Heathrow share a commitment to developing innovative and interesting customer services and what better way to do this than to bring together the most creative minds to get underneath what passengers want when they travel.”

Alex Cruz, British Airways’ chairman and CEO, said: “We are very excited to see so many talented people working towards ideas that may one day re-define the travel technology. British Airways is proud to be a partner to support this cross-continent collaboration that will benefit the industry as a whole.”

About Hack Horizon:

Hack Horizon is the brainchild of four globe-trotting and entrepreneurial millennials based in London and Hong Kong. They connected because of their belief in the power of technology and its ability to change and radically improve traditional industries. Having organised and participated in over 40 hackathons around the world between them, they wanted to take the hackathon model and apply it to the travel industry in a way that could have a long lasting, positive impact.

The team joined forces at the start of 2016 to galvanize the Asia-Pacific startup ecosystem and bring together industry innovators that had the ability to re-think and improve the travel experience for millions of people.

The first Hack Horizon will take place from 5th May – 10th May on a journey between Hong Kong and London. The hackathon will take place in numerous locations and on various modes of transport. The project is supported by leaders in the travel and transport arena including British Airways, London Heathrow Airport, Hong Kong International Airport, MTR, Sita, Transport for London, TravelPort, Skyscanner, WeWork, Regal Hotels, Travel Weekly Magazine, HKUST, Pacsafe and Voyager.